To all members of PaRD.
Grace and peace to you from CPK001. Tonight is the first of many series of the book of Thessalonians that we are studying at Church. I have been taking notes and I am going to try and portray what I heard at Church onto here.
The main theme of the book of Thessalonians is Standing Firm and hold fast to the teachings.
1 Thessalonians 1:1-101 Paul, Silas and Timothy,
To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:
Grace and peace to you.
Thanksgiving for the Thessalonians’ Faith
2 We always thank God for all of you and continually mention you in our prayers. 3 We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.
4 For we know, brothers and sisters loved by God, that he has chosen you, 5 because our gospel came to you not simply with words but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake. 6 You became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you welcomed the message in the midst of severe suffering with the joy given by the Holy Spirit. 7 And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. 8 The Lord’s message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia—your faith in God has become known everywhere. Therefore we do not need to say anything about it, 9 for they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us. They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, 10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.
Acts 17:1-10In Thessalonica
When Paul and his companions had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue. 2 As was his custom, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, 3 explaining and proving that the Messiah had to suffer and rise from the dead. “This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Messiah,” he said. 4 Some of the Jews were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a large number of God-fearing Greeks and quite a few prominent women.
5 But other Jews were jealous; so they rounded up some bad characters from the marketplace, formed a mob and started a riot in the city. They rushed to Jason’s house in search of Paul and Silas in order to bring them out to the crowd. 6 But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some other believers before the city officials, shouting: “These men who have caused trouble all over the world have now come here, 7 and Jason has welcomed them into his house. They are all defying Caesar’s decrees, saying that there is another king, one called Jesus.” 8 When they heard this, the crowd and the city officials were thrown into turmoil. 9 Then they made Jason and the others post bond and let them go.
Here is a map of Thessalonica. Thessalonica was made the capital of the Romance province of Macedonia in 148 BC.
We'll start off with a question: What does it mean to have a good name?
The book of 1 and 2 Thessalonians were one of Paul's earliest letters. We know this through his journey as written in Acts. In Acts 18:5 we read that Silas and Timothy came from Macedonia and Paul devoted himself exclusively to preaching, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Messiah. This shows us when 1 Thessalonians was written.
1 Thessalonians 1:1-31 Paul, Silas and Timothy,
To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:
Grace and peace to you.
Thanksgiving for the Thessalonians’ Faith
2 We always thank God for all of you and continually mention you in our prayers. 3 We remember before our God and Father your work produced by
faith, your labor prompted by
love, and your endurance inspired by
hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.
There are three particular words that are bolded that Paul uses very often: faith, hope and love.
1 Corinthians 13:13And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
These words are shown to be active. Faith is used alongside work, love is used alongside labor and hope is used alongside endurance.
What we believe leads to how we behave.
We can get this wrong though.
- Legalistic Christianity (behaviour over belief)
- Super Spiritual Christianity (behaviour optional)
- Hobby Christianity (belief optional)
Paul's message is a bad message with a bad reputation.
Acts 17:1-3When Paul and his companions had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue. 2 As was his custom, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, 3 explaining and proving that the Messiah had to suffer and rise from the dead. “This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Messiah,” he said.
We know that Paul was in Thessalonica for at least 3 weeks - 3 Sabbath days.
Acts 17:4Some of the Jews were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a large number of God-fearing Greeks and quite a few prominent women.
People responded to Paul's message positively. One of these mentioned are prominent women. It may be the case that the husbands did not share the same views as the prominent women and so this became a problem.
1 Thessalonians 1:5-65 because our gospel came to you not simply with words but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake. 6 You became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you welcomed the message in the midst of severe suffering with the joy given by the Holy Spirit.
There are those who welcomed Paul's message.
Acts 17:55 But other Jews were jealous; so they rounded up some bad characters from the marketplace, formed a mob and started a riot in the city. They rushed to Jason’s house in search of Paul and Silas in order to bring them out to the crowd.
However there are also the Jews that were jealous and rejected the message.
Acts 17:6-76 But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some other believers before the city officials, shouting: “These men who have caused trouble all over the world have now come here, 7 and Jason has welcomed them into his house. They are all defying Caesar’s decrees, saying that there is another king, one called Jesus
The message was enough to bring the city officials, this is the same as the high court. This is very high in the hierarchy. Paul's message is that Jesus alone rules. Paul's message has a bad reputation.
There are two notorious names: Jesus and Paul.
How do you respond to the message? Will you stay attached to a bad name with a bad reputation?
1 Thessalonians 1:7-87 And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. 8 The Lord’s message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia—your faith in God has become known everywhere. Therefore we do not need to say anything about it,
The reputation of the Thessalonians is that they became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia.
1 Thessalonians 1:9-109 for they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us. They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, 10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.
The reputation has spread vastly. They report the kind of reception given, how they turned to God from idols and how they wait for his Son from heaven.
Yet at some point, belonging to Jesus will put you under this world's rejection. Will you save your name by turning your back on your rescuer?
1 Thessalonians 1:4-54 For we know, brothers and sisters
loved by God, that
he has chosen you, 5 because our gospel came to you not simply with words but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake.
We are loved by God and he has chosen us. The word of God transforms us with power, with the Holy Spirit and deep conviction.
People will listen to the message when its work is evident in us. The work of the Thessalonians rang out. What we believe drives what we do.
Tune in next week for the next part of Thessalonians.